Police have taken to the streets and stopped dozens of people in Leicester in a bid to find the family of a baby abandoned in a skip in the city last week.

Officers spoke to scores of people close to where baby Joe was found but said the exercise had produced no new leads. The baby, named Joe by by nurses in the intensive care unit at Leicester Royal Infirmary, is now in foster care.

Joe - rescued minutes from death

Social services this week issued an open letter to the baby's mother and family asking them to make contact. Community and religious leaders echoed the appeal.

Brian Niblock, pastor of the New Trinity Church in Upper Tichborne Street, near to where the baby was found, said: "We feel for the mother. Perhaps she is under extreme pressure. We would like to offer our support to her."

Joe - who is of Asian origin - was found, minutes from death, in a closed-top industrial waste skip by a heavily pregnant woman and her boyfriend who called the ambulance service when they heard whimpering from inside. The 5lb baby is believed to be around four weeks premature.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 0116 222 2222 or social services on 0116 256 5082.

Used courtesy of the Leicester Mercury